


Into The Darkness

by Lollikins



Series: The Corruption [8]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst, M/M, Violence, fight scene!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:15:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27264103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lollikins/pseuds/Lollikins
Summary: The final chapter, will the boys triumph or will they fall?
Relationships: Choi San/Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa
Series: The Corruption [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979759
Comments: 12
Kudos: 24





	Into The Darkness

It took them nearly an hour to calm San enough to focus. He was extremely close with his sister and thought the world of her. “San, you have to focus so we can save her. She’s still alive, he wouldn’t send us this if he were going to kill them outright. He needs them alive so he can lure us into his trap. We know it’s a trap and that alone is something in our favor, if we go in with our eyes open then we might be able to turn it to our favor.” 

San nodded, he couldn’t stand the idea of his sister alone and afraid because of him. He knew it was nothing he had done, it was his mere existence and the fact that he had survived that had brought this fate upon her. He wrapped his arms around Seonghwa and rested his head on his shoulder. He just focused on the feeling of strong warm arms around him, his long fingers running soothingly through his hair. He could do this. He had to do it for his sister. He took a deep breath and squeezed, his squeeze was returned with a light kiss to his brown. “Okay, let’s go get Choi  Haneul and the others. How do we do this?”

“Sir and Han Ju-eun have gone out to see if they can get any useful information about the rectory. That has to be where he’s keeping them or else he’d name another location. He assumes we know it’s him and where he is. Yeosang drew a map and all of the information he could remember about the rectory but he’s only been inside once. He said he thinks there’s also a basement but he’s not sure. He was also not sure exactly where in the building that Father Gookdu was staying. I would imagine, he’s probably keeping our family in the basement. Unless he really is thinking about sparing them, then they might be right up front.” Seonghwa knew that this … thing didn’t need to kill their families but who knew whether or not he would kill them just to make the boys suffer their loss before he killed them.

To make such a bold play, it was obvious he thought he had all of the cards and he would be playing on his home turf and presumably where he was the strongest. They would be at a disadvantage whether they knew it was a trap or not. He needed San to believe they could do it. In Seonghwa’s own mind, failure was not an option. His brother could live without a finger but he would live. He needed to make sure that they all lived. 

“Okay, it’s finished. I wish I remembered more…” Yeosang said as he sat back from his map. 

Seonghwa and San got up to go look at it. 

“It looks more like a warehouse than a house.” San commented. 

“That’s what I thought the one time I went inside. There are tons of boxes and file cabinets and maybe Father Gookdu found something there. Heaven knows anything could be in all of those boxes.” Yeosang shrugged and ran his hands through his hair. 

San snickered, “I wonder what would happen if we just called the police.” 

“Would you believe it if someone called you and said that a beloved local priest had gone rogue and kidnapped three people and was keeping them in his basement?” Yeosang asked. 

San opened his mouth and closed it again, “No, probably not. Is he that loved?” 

“He seemed to be pretty well loved. Whenever we were out, people were always assaulting him with praise and gifts. You’d have thought the pope was passing through and not just a regular priest.” Yeosang got up and walked to the window to peer out and see whether or not the car he had heard was Moon Hwangi and Han Ju-Eun. 

“If I didn’t know for a fact that it was, I would doubt it myself. He was always so kind and generous. He gave me the house he had been staying in when I came so that I could have a place of my own. Now I know he was probably just trying to keep me out of the rectory but at the time I thought he was a generous soul, befitting of a priest and something I aspired to. Now I know better…” He really had wanted to be like Father Gookdu. He wanted to make that many people happy and to soothe the hurt of the masses. Now he knew that he was causing the damage.

Not more than a minute later, Moon Hwangi and Han Ju-Eun entered and they began their planning. With their plan firmly in place, they began the nearly hour long drive to the parish. For the most part, the trip was taken in silence. Each of the men kept their thoughts to themselves but there was no way they could miss the fear and pain each of them harbored for their captured loved ones. 

“You know…” Began San after about half an hour, “I just keep thinking about my sister poking my cheeks. I know it’s a stupid thing to fixate on but it’s all I keep thinking about. She said it was the reason I have dimples. It’s bullshit of course but-” 

He choked on his words and his voice cracked. Yeosang took his hand and wound their fingers together. He wasn’t as close with his mother as the other two were with their kidnapped family members but she was still his mother. As combative as their relationship sometimes was, he loved her and didn’t want any harm to come to her, especially not because of him.

Seonghwa sighed quietly, “I know the feeling. I keep thinking about every little thing my brother would do to annoy me and I realize how much I’ll miss it if this doesn’t go well. But it will, it will go well and we’ll get them home safe and sound, right?” 

San steeled his spine and remembered the look on his sister’s face in her Polaroid. That was his sister right there, all that spite and malice for the person who had done that to her, that was using her. He was sure she would have gone to the wall to keep him from thinking she was in pain or even mildly put out. While it was obvious that Seonghwa’s brother had put up a fight, he knew his sister and she would have kicked the shit out of someone before they let them take her. He just had to know that  Haneul would fight for him the way he now had to fight for her. “Right. We won’t let the son of a bitch win.” 

“We can do this.” Yeosang added his confirmation. 

Soon they pulled up to the empty parking lot of the parish. There was a piece of paper on the sign saying the church was closed for three days for repairs. Seonghwa parked the car and looked to Yeosang, “Where’s the rectory?” 

“It’s down that pathway there…” He pointed to a cobblestoned path that led off to the left side of the church.

“Do you think he knows we’re here?” Seonghwa asked. 

“Does it matter?” said San. “It’s not like it changes anything.” 

Just then, the door to the church opened and Father Gookdu walked out, “Oh! Father Yeosang, I’ve been hoping you would visit. I’m sorry, I forgot it’s just Kang Yeosang now. Please, bring your friends around to the rectory and let’s have some tea.” 

Yeosang gave Seonghwa a confused look who in turn looked around at San who shrugged helplessly. All three on high alert, followed the seemingly completely normal Gookdu around the church to the rectory. Upon entering their senses were assailed by the smell of dust and old paper. There was something else there as well, an electric scent and copper… blood.

“Where are our families?” Seonghwa asked before crossing the threshold. 

Father Gookdu tsked and shook his head, “They are fine, I assure you. They’ve merely been waiting for you to arrive. Now that you’re here, I’ll happily send them on their way.”

“Just like that? You aren’t worried they’ll go to the police?” Yeosang asked in disbelief.

“They would have to remember what happened to them but alas, all they will remember is being assaulted and robbed. They are innocent bystanders in this aren’t they? What do you take me for, a monster?” He shook his head again as if the very idea pained him. “I do the Lord’s work but you’re playing with forces that you don’t understand.” 

As he spoke, Choi Haneul walked up in a daze. She didn’t seem to recognize or even see her brother as she walked out the door. She was followed by Yeosang’s mother and Seonghwa’s brother. They walked right out of the door past them. As soon as they were out, the front door slammed. Seonghwa tried to open it to no avail. 

“No, we don’t understand. Why don’t you explain it to us.” Yeosang said. 

“Why? So that you can prepare some sort of attack? I don’t think I’ll fall prey to one of those classic blunders. Well, I had hoped there would be another way to handle this but I’m afraid that as long as the three of you are alive, I will have to worry about you always on my coat tails so I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you now, I want you to know, it’s nothing personal.

Seonghwa had an image and hit the ground, bolts of purplish black wrapped around Yeosang and San. As he hit the ground, he let forth a wave of energy, it was one of the few spells he had perfected, the wave hit Father Gookdu squarely in the chest, causing him to lose his grip on San and Yeosang. Seonghwa kipped up and ran further into the rectory, he wasn’t sure where he was going, he was running on pure instinct as he took one turn after another. He could hear Gookdu running after him and San and Yeosang further behind. Perhaps Gookdu knew where he was going better than he did himself. 

There. 

It was a door, there was a faint glow seeping around the edges. “Just where do you think you’re going? You cannot beat me and there is nowhere to run.” 

Seonghwa didn’t answer him but he heard San catch up to him, he didn’t look back he opened the door and found himself at the top of the stairs to the basement. He half ran, half slid down the stairs and railing. God there were so many boxes and items on shelves. He knew what he was looking for wouldn’t be obvious. It wasn’t like it would be on a raised dais with a circle of candles around it. What was it? He knew enough of his power to know that for his powers to truly help him, he had to be on the right track and right now there was too much, he had to get closer. 

With a burst of speed, San closed the distance putting his two feet squarely into Father Gookdu’s back. If he had hit anyone else like that they would have gone sprawling but instead of sprawling, he grunted and went down to one knee before turning fiery glowing eyes on San. For all of his pretended politeness, that was gone now and he let his unnatural rage show. These whelps dared to fight him when they should thank him for allowing them the possibility of a clean death. No, not now, now he would make them wish they had accepted his kindness as he ripped them limb from bloodied limb. 

Yeosang and San exchanged a look and jumped into battle with Gookdu. San went low and Yeosang went high. They worked perfectly, seamlessly together, trading punches and kicks. They moved faster and faster and faster, to the point they would have been a blur to anyone watching. Gookdu roared and punched out, catching Yeosang squarely in the stomach and sending him flying into an old file cabinet. He came back around to attempt to catch San who danced elegantly out of the way. San watched from a low crouch, he wanted to check on Yeosang but he dare not take his eyes off of the priest. Their job was to beat him if they could but if they couldn’t then their job was to keep him busy for as long as possible to allow Seonghwa the time he needed to find the source of Father Gookdu’s power. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. Seonghwa knew he was running out of time. It had gotten quiet upstairs and he knew that Gookdu would be coming for him. The basement was huge and labyrinthian. He came around a corner and there on a raised dais surrounded by candles was an extremely ornate golden box. “You’re kidding me.” 

He took a step and was treated to an image of himself picking up the box and being jolted with some sort of energy and then falling to the ground dead. Okay, don’t pick it up. But was that it? Was that the source? He didn’t have any sort of information to draw on, he turned in a circle looking for anything that caught his eye, anything that might trigger his feelings. He felt himself drawn forward to a cardboard box, he opened it and there was a notebook, it looked to be extremely old. It sat on top of a small sculpture of what looked to be an archway. He hesitantly reached out and his powers were silent. No danger then… or San or Yeosang had fallen. He didn’t want to think about that. 

Just as his fingers were about to wrap around the carving pain the likes of which he had never known shot through him. Purple tendrils wrapped around his torso crushing him. He was sure his ribs were about to snap, “I gave you a chance, but you couldn’t accept my kindness. It’s not your fault, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, perhaps you’ll have better luck in your next life.” 

Seonghwa knew he was going to die. 

“AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!” 

Seonghwa hit the ground and turned to see Monk Moon Hwangi with his scimitar out, having slashed down across Father Gookdu’s back. Blood dripped onto the bare cement floor.

“Do what you need to do, I’ll hold him off.” Hwangi squared his stance and waited for Gookdu to make a move. 

“Idiot monk, I should have finished you off then. It’s a mistake I won’t make a second time.” He raised both of his arms over his head and send out a mass of purple black mist out toward the monk. The monk braced himself against the energy and it collided with a shell around him, forcing his feet to slide with him but he was holding. 

“You’re more powerful than you look.” Gookdu offered with a slight admiration in his tone. 

“It’s because Seonghwa won’t let me eat as much meat or drink as much soju as I like. We’re supposed to be sober vegetarians after all.” Hwangi smirked, not letting his focus waver for a second. 

Seonghwa grabbed both the notebook and the sculpture, not really knowing which was the source of power but feeling sure that it was one of them. 

Gookdu raised his hands and brought them down again and again and again, visible cracks began to form in Moon Hwangi’s shield, his arms shaking violently beneath the onslaught. Just as it would have shattered, it was reinforced by a beam blue light from behind him. 

“You made another mistake in fighting in a place where there is so much spirit energy, specifically the energy of my sisters!” Han Ju-Eun came around the corner and added her energy to Moon Hwangi. Beside her were two shimmering shapes that poured their energy into her. 

For the first time Gookdu looked shaken but it lasted only a moment, he turned and crossed the few steps to the dias and picked up the box and hurled it at the pair. It exploded in a rising swell of energy that knocked them backward. Hwangi rolled and regained his feet just in time to catch the next surge but not in time to resurrect his shield. The black energy tore through him and he fell to his knees, he mouthed Seonghwa’s name as blood poured from his lips to soak his shirt. He fell to the ground beside Ju-Eun and moved no more. 

“SIR!” Seonghwa yelled. He wanted to run to him but Gookdu stood between them. 

That was when San and Yeosang arrived. 

With a furious roar, San launched himself at Gookdu, Yeosang followed behind, pushing him back. Yeosang’s fists glowed with the familiar warm glow that was his. Each strike sent sparks off in all directions. 

With shaking hands, Seonghwa focused his attention to the relics in his hands. He knew that’s what they were and he knew only one way to deal with them. The people who could give him advice were silent and he only knew what they had told him. He knew how to absorb it but that was more dangerous than he could say… it could destroy him on the spot or it could simply open the door to what it was that Gookdu was trying to bring about or it might turn him into what Gookdu had become. He had to have faith. He had to control it. He had to believe in what he and his lovers were, what they had become, in what they were together. 

The energy was so quiet, it was nothing but a whisper as it travelled up his hands and shivered it’s way up his arms, raising the hairs there like a cool breeze. He pushed all of the anger and malice out of his heart. He forgot the blame and concentrated on what he felt from San and Yeosang, love. He let that warmth suffuse his heart. 

What began with the gentle lapping of waves at his fingers was quickly growing into a tsunami. He felt like he was drowning, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t see. 

Father Gookdu felt the change, “NO! NOT AFTER ALL I’VE DONE!” 

“RAH! He summoned forth a crushing wave but it had only a measure of the energy his previous attacks held and he managed to send Yeosang and San flying but they both were climbing back to their feet. Gookdu crossed to Yeosang and heaved him up by his neck. He produced a knife from beneath his cassock and moved to stab Yeosang. 

But before he could bring his hand forward, his wrist was caught from behind. Seonghwa stood there, his entire being crackled with energy, the ground shook with it. So great was the power he held that the reality directly around him began to unmake itself, dissolving into smaller and smaller pieces until there was nothing. He could not hold it, it would destroy him but he would destroy Gookdu before it did.

Gookdu released Yeosang and grabbed at Seonghwa’s hand. Seonghwa didn’t bother to try to counter it, he just punched his hand into Gookdu’s chest, fingers wrapping around his still beating heart. The sleeve that wrapped the arm that held Gookdu was beginning to dissolve, his flesh would be next. 

Gookdu screamed. 

San launched himself forward and wrapped himself around Seonghwa as Seonghwa too began to roar in agony as he used the power to destroy the demon from within. Yeosang crawled over and wrapped himself around San and Seonghwa’s legs. The energy arched through and around them as Gookdu turned to dust. 

The surge of energy crested and exploded outward, all of the windows in the building shattering with the pressure. 

Seonghwa collapsed to the ground. 

San dropped to his knees, “Park Seonghwa! Seonghwa! No, no, no, please no. Seonghwa!” 

Yeosang stared, unblinking with tears streaming down his face at the still form of one of the bravest, selfless, most beautiful men he had ever known or ever would know. One of the two people he loved best in the world, Park Seonghwa. 

***

Yeosang hated the cast they had put on his arm, it itched like mad. He looked down at it and sighed in irritation as he pulled his suit jacket back up onto his shoulder. “Can you put the arm on for me?” 

San nodded and put the funeral armband onto Yeosang’s coat for him. He was sober and had been since they walked out of the rectory. Because of the greed of one man, life had been lost. 

Nothing would ever be the same as it had been before. 

The church had swept in and cleaned up the parish. They had questioned Yeosang and he had told them what happened, they had surprisingly few questions. They surmised that the source of the supernatural hyperactivity had been Father Gookdu’s doing. He had come upon an ancient relic of the church and misused it sorely. But as the church was so good at doing, they cleaned up the mess and kept their secrets to themselves. 

As the artifact was destroyed when Seonghwa absorbed it, there was no evidence left behind to tell the tale. 

“We should head to the funeral.” San said quietly, gingerly embracing Yeosang. 

The funeral was packed, more people than San was sure he had ever known or ever would know. He knelt down in front of the altar and bowed, pressing his forehead to the mat before rising again. He helped Yeosang to do the same. Getting down was easy with his arm, getting back up proved to be a little trickier. 

Their attention was drawn by the sound of bickering in the hallway, Seonghwa pushed Moon Hwangi’s wheelchair into the room. 

“I’m perfectly fine, I don’t need a wheelchair.” The monk insisted.

“That’s not what the doctor said, so you’re staying in the wheelchair.” Seonghwa retorted. “Until Dr. Ahn says you can walk around. You’re lucky she let you out of the hospital at all.” 

“Let a kid defeat one demon and he gets a big head.” Hwangi grumbled to himself. 

“I didn’t do it by myself, if it wasn’t for San and Yeosang I would have died and probably so would you. Han Ju-Eun though... ” Seonghwa grew quiet at the thought.

They had all made it through but for Ju-Eun. Perhaps she was happier with her friends. Moon Hwangi said that she was ready to die, she in fact hoped for it so they could be together again. She said she lived long enough. It was a sentiment she had repeated to Seonghwa but still, he was young enough to think that death was always the worst outcome. There were things worse than death. 

Seonghwa looked up and saw Yeosang and San whispering to each other and pointing at him. He pointed to himself and San nodded and gave a quick look around to see if he was being watched before giving Seonghwa a saucy look and making a little kissy face. 

With all that had happened, Seonghwa was still sure he was the luckiest man in the room. He had not just one person who he loved and adored who loved him but two. He had friends and family who supported him. Together he and his lovers would face many, many hardships but they would face them head on and they would face them together. That's a story for another time...

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know how you like this new approach I took. It doesn't seem to have been as popular as my other works to that might say it all there. Those who did stick with me for the whole thing, I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
